charlie sykes, charlie alter, thanks for appearing with us on a friday night. coming up after another break, on the very week trump invites henry kissinger to the oval office, he finds himself being compared to richard nixon. and now visitors to the oval might be looking for microphones. we're back with more right after this. on september 9, 2010, pg&e learned a tragic lesson we can never forget. this gas pipeline ruptured in san bruno. the explosion and fire killed eight people. pg&e was convicted of six felony charges including five violations of the u.s. pipeline safety act and obstructing an ntsb investigation. pg&e was fined, placed under an outside monitor, given five years of probation, and required to perform 10,000 hours of community service. we are deeply sorry. we failed our customers in san bruno. while an apology alone will never be enough, actions can make pg&e safer. and that's why we've replaced hundreds of miles of gas pipeline, adopted new leak detection technology that is one-thousand times more sensitive, and built a state-of-the-art gas ope

we'll explain with charlie sykes right after this. >>> the destroy trump propaganda media continues to the democrats' dirty work by pushing and saying conspiracy theories. they are totally suffering from a syndrome. trump derangement syndrome. >> the democrat party is going bananas, completely totally unhinged on the road to literal insanity. the democrats are convinced the russians stole the election. >> conservative media reaction to the firing of fbi director comey. more broadly, many republican lawmakers avoided commenting on the firing this week. according to nate silvers 538, of 52 republicans in the senate 25 either gave an ambiguous reaction or gave no statement at all. only a quarter of them defended the president's decision. similar story in the house. they have been home on an 11-day recess. here with speaking paul ryan today shielding questions on the firing. >> i'm not going to comment on their private conversations. i'll let the president speak for himself. the president made his decision. there is nothing i can do about that. i'm going to focus on what i control, which i

charlie sykes and indira lakshman, thank you for join us. . luckily there's powerful, 24-hour, non-drowsy claritin. it provides relief of symptoms that can be triggered by over 200 different allergens. live claritin clear. introducing new depend silhouette briefs. featuring a comfortable sleek fit. as a dancer, i've learned you can't have any doubts. because looking good on stage is one thing. but real confidence comes from feeling good out there. get a free sample at depend.com. >>> what people are saying, is he sane? i have no idea. i can tell you this. and a lot of people don't like when i say it. but he was a young man of 26 or 27 when he took over from his father, when his father died. he is dealing with obviously very tough people. in particular the generals and others. and at a very young age, he was able to assume power. a lot of people i'm sure tried to take that power away, whether it was his uncle or anybody else. and he was able to do it. so obviously he's a pretty smart cookie. let's go, she's a dog. [ whimpers ] find ping-pong. o

charlie sykes. longtime wisconsin radio guy and msnbc political analyst.lter of the cook political report. joy reid, host of "a.m. joy" on msnbc and kimberly strassel, columnist for the "wall street journal." the president is tweeting this morning. let's get people up to speed on this. motte specif not specific what he's referring to. you'll get an idea. starts with "my opinion many of the leaks coming out of the white house are fabricated lies made up by the fake news media." "whenever you say sources say in the fake news media and don't mention names, it's possible the sources don't exist but are made up by fake news writers. fake news is the enemy." okay, amy walter. it is now -- there's not a specific. we don't want to assume he's referring to a specific story. likely it's to what is going on with his son-in-law. >> there's no doubt. look, i think what we're learning is we don't know that there's a fire but there is a whole lot of smoke and that cloud is blocking everything. and i think if you're the president right now trying to get back on course, yo

joining me from milwaukee, charlie sykes. from denver, gop strategist, katie packer.like group therapy. i'm sorry to do this on tv. former deputy campaign manager for mitt romney. i want to start with my fellow republicans in witness protection with another something that moved me this morning from michael gerson, former white house colleague, wrote "the conservative mind in very visible cases has become diseased. institutions and individuals that once served an important ideological role providing a balanced and media bias are discrediting themselves in crucial ways. with the blessings of a president, they abandoned the normal constraints of reason and compassion." katie packer, what's it like to see the republican party go up in flames? >> well, you know, it's certainly a struggle that i think you're familiar with, and i don't know if i'm ready to say that the party's going up in flames but certainly the party's having a huge identity crisis and there is sort of this battle that's going on where sort of the price of admission in the republican party right now does s

i want to get this charlie sykes "new york times" op-ed into the discussion here.is issue of what's happening on the right where there isn't conservative intellectualism, it's just anti-trumpism. he writes "the real heart of anti-anti-trumpism is the delight and frustration and anger of his opponents. if liberals hate something it must be wonderful and worthy of aggressive defense. each controversy reinforces the division and distrust and mr. trump counts on that." but charlie sykes is lamenting the fact, matthew, and i want you to chime in on this, first, that conservatives have lost what they -- what it means to be a conservative. >> i think many people come to conservatism for different reasons and i think a lot of them are driven by opposition to the left. that's why a lot of 2 conservative movement ended up supporting donald trump because as -- whatever his flaws as a candidate, they thought he would be kind of a battering ram against the left. there are others, like charlie sykes, who thinks it's more important to keep principles intact than win victories. >>

insight and analysis are msnbc's joy roid, kimberly strasal columnist for the "wall street journal," charlie sykes, and amy walter of the cook political report. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest-running show in television history, celebrating its 70th year. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning on this memorial day weekend. the president came home late last night from his first overseas trip in office. when he did, the russia investigation got much closer to home, as well. so much closer in fact, that it now involves the president's son-in-law jared kushner. president trump faces a scandal that threatens to overshadow perhaps his entire presidency. consider what happened in the last week. monday, "washington post" reports mr. trump had asked his intel chiefs in march to push back specifically on then fbi director james comey's comments on the russian investigation. tuesday, former cia director john brannan testifies he saw intelligence revealing contacts between russian officials and trump campaign members that he thoug

also with us charlie sykes, editor-in-chief of right wisconsin and an msnbc contributor. indira, the press briefing every day involves a series of questions to essentially what did the president mean when he said or what does the president mean and where does he stand, and every day as sean spicer offers no more clarification of wherever the president had left the confusion point. >> well, in this case where you're talking about trump's position on authoritarian leaders, this is something where president trump has been pretty consistent even since he was candidate trump. he has been consistent in the words he used about himself. remember at the rnc, at the republican convention when his big line was "i alone can fix it." which is not the kind of a line you would have heard from ronald reagan or george h.w. bush or other well-known republicans. it's the kind of line you would hear more from a suharto or a fidel or some other authoritarian leader. so i thought it was very striking during the campaign, one of the most interesting polls was one out of the university of massac

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that's what the trump health care proposal will do. >> ron klain and charlie sykes, thank you so much. coming up, moscow calling. president trump will be talking to vladimir putin. how will he handle this call after setting off alarms by saying he would meet with notorious dictators in north korea and the philippines? >> this is a dramatic departure from the kind of approach to foreign policy and human rights that i admired ronald reagan so much for and one of the reasons he was one of the most successful presidents in history. de n' seek.) ready or not, here i come. ♪ anyone can dream. making it a reality is the hard part. northrop grumman command and control systems always let you see the complete picture. and we're looking for a few dreamers to join us. remember when you said men are supeyeah...ivers? yeah, then how'd i get this... ...allstate safe driving bonus check? ...only allstate sends you a bonus check for every six months you're accident free. silence. it's good to be in, good hands. hey you've gotta see this. cno.n. alright, see you down there. mmm, fine. okay, what do we

we are a long way from seeing that happen, i think. >> charlie sykes, who has happened me establish thatas a young man once. then along came this campaign. charlie, our thanks, as always. ileana, who remains youthful and energetic enough to have a featured byline piece on the in politico thank you both for coming on our broadcast tonight. one more break for us. coming up, just who is in contl of the leading investigation now into the tmp russia ties? and do legal veterans feel it's in good hands? break through your allergies. try new flonase sensimist allergy relief instead of allergy pills. it delivers a gentle mist experience to help block six key inflammatory substances. most allergy pills only block one. new flonase sensist most allergy pills only block one. changes everything. ♪ ♪ i'm dr. kelsey mcneely and some day you might be calling me an energy farmer. ♪ energy lives here. >>> welcome back. another jam packed news day. the senate subpoenas records from michael flynn's companies after he pleads the fifth. while the former cia chief says he warned the fbi about contacts between r

. >> joining me now are charlie sykes, an author and commentator and nbc contributor and jennifer hornpolitical chair. charlie, let's start with you. justin nash, you saw a moment ago getting run down by kristen welker in the halls of congress, refusing to elaborate, but reportedly said earlier that impeachment is something that could be considered if this memo from james comey turned out to be true. is he going to be the last republican we hear using that "i" word? >> probably for the near term. republicans are kind of hiding out in the weeds right now because, number one, they're shaken by what's been revealed over the last couple days, and they know there is more to come, there are more shoes to drop. but look, republicans in congress are not going to break with trump until the base moves, until the base shifts. right now the conservative republican talk radio fox news base is solidly behind donald trump. and as long as they're there, you know, in the cost benefit analysis, most republicans are going to keep their heads down, i think. >> jen, how much longer are his supporters going

and charlie sykes. e.j., let me start with you.ometimes it sounds as if the ambassador is reading from a different set of plays, if you will, than other members of the trump administration. >> absolutely, craig. sometimes it sounds like she's a member of a different administration. first i salute you for calling attention to the plight of those refugees. it's very easy for all of us to forget. and i thought you drew a fascinating answer out of her. when you talked about the cuts the administration is making in u.n. funding, in aid to refugees, and she said, we're going through the congressional process, we'll see whathappens. it almost sounded like she was calling on congress to overturn the cuts that the administration will propose and restore the funding. i also thought she was particularly strong in defending the way in which erdogan's security detail, if i do call them that, they're really thugs, beat up demonstrators on american soil. she is really carving out a position for herself that is quasi-independent inside the adminis

and charlie sykes, editor-in-chief of right wisconsin and an msnbc contributor.tgeyo reaction first as to what you see in this bill that passed the house of representatives today, and what it would mean if it became law. >> well, thank you for having me on, lawrence. so let me first say that the affordable care act did something remarkable. it brought our insurance rate downs to the lowest level we've ever seen in history at 8%. this bill would reverse those changes. reverse the improvements in the insurance we've seen over the past several years. number one, what it would do is eviscerate medicaid. it would result in approximately a 25% cut in medicare funding. so those states that adopted medicaid would be defunded, and there wouldn't be any further expansion that would mean that millions of people, up to 14 million people who are on medicaid would be without insurance. and these are people that we see in our office with chronic conditions. they're elderly. they're poor, and they're sick. and they need, they need good health care. number two, what it would do i

joining me now on the story, charlie sykes is editor and chief of right wisconsin and msnbc contributorjoy reid back was. charlie, as i mentioned, the sheriff also giving us the late-breaking information that they already had interaction with the candidate and the reporter. and they're looking at this as you would any other attempted potential battery case. according to what they've told us. your view of this on substance and politics with voters starting to come out tomorrow morning. >> well, you know, of course i didn't actually watch it. but certainly from the tape, it doesn't sound like an altercation. it does sound like the reporter is asking a legitimate question, and this candidate goes off. you know, obviously under a good deal of strain. does not want to talk about the cbo score. uncomfortable with the question. and just loses his temper. the statement doesn't bear any relationship to what you hear on the tape. the politics, we're going find out a lot about american politics in 2017 there was once a time where a congressional candidate facing possible criminal charges for assau

charlie sykes.snbc and kimberly strauszel, journalist for ""the wall street journal." the president is tweeting this morning. let's get people up to speed on this. not specific of what he's referring to but i think you get an idea. it is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the white house are fabricated lies made up by the fake news media. whenever you see sources say and they don't mention names it is very possible that those sources don't exist but are made up by fake news writers. fake news is the enemy. okay. amy walter, it is now -- there is not a specific. we don't want to assume that he's referring to a specific story. likely, it is what's going on with his son-in-law. >> i think what we're learning is we don't know that there is a fire but there is a whole lot of smoke and that cloud is blocking everything and if you're the president right now trying to get back on course, you thought that going overseas, having a foreign trip, nine days this was going to reset. we were going to

. >> let's get the charlie sykes op-ed into the discussion and talks about discussion there ant thereservative interelection wallism, just anti-trumpism. the real heart is the delight in the frustration and anger of his opponents if liberals like something. each controversy reinforces the divisions and mistrust and mr. trump counts on that. he's lamenting the fact, matthew, chime in on this first, that the conservatives have sort of lost what they -- what it means to be a conservative. >> i think many people come to conservatism for different reasons and a lot driven by the opposition to the left and why a lot of the conservative movement ended up supporting donald trump, because whatever his flaws as a candidate, they thought he would be kind of a battering ram against the left. there are others like charlie sykes who think it is more important to keep their principles in tact than win political victories. >> to me, that's what's going to divide congress here. >> even like you heard lindsey graham on the russia question for example, even those most dedicated to sort of upholding what

. >> robert costa, charlie sykes and jonathan, thank you so much. we're skipping around on a variety of topics on another busy monday. >>> hundreds of protesters are gathering at this hour to rally against president trump's policies. marches like this are happening around the country today. we'll check in with our reporters at one of the biggest protests right here in new york. and the rallies sure to come up at the daily press briefing, which is set to kick off in 15 minutes or so. bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what? you could apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan whenever you want. no enrollment window. no waiting to apply. that means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. medicare doesn't cover everything. and like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. so don't

joining me for insight and analysis are joy reid, kimberly strass strassel, charlie sykes and amy walteray. it's "meet the press." >>> good sunday morning on this memorial day weekend. the president came home late last night from his first overseas trip in office, and when he did, the russia investigation got much closer to home as well. so much closer, in fact, that it son-in-law, jared kushner. president trump faces a growing scandal. consider what has happened in just the last week, monday. "washington post" reports that mr. trump had asked his intel chiefs in march to push back specifically on then fbi director james comey's comments on the russia investigation. john brennan testifies that he saw contacts between russian officials and trump campaign members that he thought deserved investigation. >>> thursday nbc news reports that jared kushner is now under fbi scrutiny in the russia investigation, though he is not a target. friday night, the bombshell that kushner and russia's embas amba discussed a secret back door channel so that their conversation would not be picked up. the trum

joining me for insight and analysis are joy reid, kimberly strass strassel, charlie sykes and amy walter. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >>> good sunday morning on this memorial day weekend. the president came home late last night from his first overseas trip in office, and when he did, the russia investigation got much closer to home as well. so much closer, in fact, that it now involves the president's son-in-law, jared kushner. president trump faces a growing scandal. consider what has happened in just the last week, monday. "washington post" reports that mr. trump had asked his intel chiefs in march to push back specifically on then fbi director james comey's comments on the russia investigation. john brennan testifies that he saw contacts between russian officials and trump campaign members that he thought deserved investigation. >>> thursday nbc news reports that jared kushner is now under fbi scrutiny in the russia investigation, though he is not a target. friday night, the bombshell that kushner and russia's embas amba discussed a secret back door channel so that their

back with me, charlie sykes. charlie, i know you've been sitting here listening and you've got some thoughts. so tell me. >> first of all, stephanie makes a couple of outstanding points. number one, people keep asking, so what is going to change the dynamic of republican support for the president? you know, number one, look, she's absolutely right. his agenda has been absolutely in eclipse, and i think we're starting to believe that, look, we're not going to get tax cuts, the tax reform. we're not going to see the infrastructure, health care reform. everything has been put on hold. that's absolutely true. if, in fact, the stock market continues to react negatively, that might be a game-changer. her other point is absolutely correct. i think this is bad news for the white house, but it's clearly very, very, very good news for congress. congress now can take a deep breath. they can now deflect the questions and the obsession on the issue and say, look, you know, we trust the independent -- not the independent counse

. >> charlie sykes, good to talk to you. >>> the satire, "saturday night live" what might be in storessa mccarthy guest-hosting. that's going to be rich. that's ahead in the next hour. ♪ ♪ use the chase mobile app to send money in just a tap, to friends at more banks then ever before. you got next? chase. helping you master what's now and what's next. i just want to find a used car start at the new carfax.com show me used trucks with one owner. pretty cool. [laughs] ah... ahem... show me the carfax. start your used car search at the all-new carfax.com. are making the move to nissan. because of rogue, the best selling suv in america. titan, with america's best truck warranty. and the most advanced safety features on alitma and our best selling models. that's why we're america's fastest-growing auto brand. get 0% financing for up to 72 months on 11 models. ♪ the uncertainties of hep c. wondering, what if? i let go of all those feelings. because i am cured with harvoni. harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. it's been prescribed to more than

joining me to discuss all of this, contributor and long-time conservative commentator charlie sykes,ichael steele former press secretary, he's also worked with paul ryan and jeb bush and jim vanda hide, co-founder of axios. jim, these numbers come against this backdrop of all of this palace intrigue, renewed reports, your reporting over the weekend that the president might be looking to shake up his staff within the west wing. we've been doing reporting, as well. seems like it may not happen before he lives for his foreign trip. >> he's as frustrated by the poll numbers as any other run 0 would be. he's frustrated they're not getting anything done and feels ill served by his staff. he's been on the phone for the last four or five days with friends musing about a big shake-up. i don't know if it will happen before the trip. it's clear they want steve bannon out. that will happen. it's clear they would like someone else in as chief of staff. he doesn't like his press shop. he would like to be his own spokesman if he could swing it. one of the problems they're having and we're getting f

charlie sykes, a conservative talk radio host in wisconsin wrote "the real heart of anti-trumpism," meaningresistance, et cetera, "is the delight and frustration of the anger of his opponents. mr. trump's base is unlikely to hold him to either promises or achievements because conservative politics is now less about ideas or accomplishments than it is about making the right enemies cry out in anguish." >> think about that, that would be about two-thirds of the republicans who stuck with him until the very, very end. why? i was old enough, in college or grad school then. everyone hated the left that was after him so much that they wanted to rally to nixon, and there were a few, of course, unjust charges, too. the chaos of watergate, things were said that weren't false. so, one in five times is a false accusation against trump, and then the anti-anti-trump forces say, see, the media's unfair, this isn't true, right? and totally missing the forest through the trees there. >> what a great panel. i'm sorry, i have to cut it off. i'll stay around to hear what you have to say. president trump's ins

charlie sykes, one say psychological phenomenon in which they've been effectively bullied and captured of what they experienced during the campaign and another is just a raw calculation political advantage which is basically, we have seen in the past people that did not get on the trump train got run over. i'm not going to make that mistake. which of those two is it? >> there's that political stockholm syndrome, a real sense of intimidation. why have to put up with it? you'll be attacked by the trump troll army. there's also that political fausti iaian bargain you're referring to. we can't break with him. we can't say bad things because we'll not get the tax reform. what happens when paul ryan or somebody else wakes up, they lost those elections and realize the entire agenda is eclipsed. what if it is dead in the water. does that change the calculation? it's one thing to sort of sell a little bit of your soul in order to get what you want. but the pieces are getting bigger and bigger and the butcher's bill is getting higher and higher. >> the legislative agenda, if the trade here is we

. >> and charlie sykes in milwaukee. let's talk about mitch mcconnell ruling out any kind of special counsel. there are pluses and minuses from a political standpoint from democrats and republbecause the ground if they stop what they're doing if they let one justice person take over in charge. that said, do you think mitch mcconnell will be able to hold the line on this given the fallout of this interview and other things -- certainly what the president said to lester holt? >> that's an interesting question, because, of course, you have both mitch mcconnell and paul ryan right now who, frankly, i think are afraid to break with donald trump, they're afraid to derail the agenda. but this may derail the agenda, anyway. i've been saying right from the beginning, the smart political move is to push this off your plate, to go with a special prosecutor and let the chips fall where they may. look, the 300-pound gorilla in the room here is beyond these conversations that took place and the changing stories is this is a president

again, i go back to that charlie sykes article. 's so clarified. wait, they're not defending trump, but attacking media and nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. what's the heart? there is no heart of the article. they simply attack people as overstating it. i know we're really late here, i would like, david ignatius, one more time please underline it for americans briefly. why is this such a critical, critical issue, perhaps the most dangerous thing donald trump has ever done. >> these are the secrets that keep us alive. presidents have to be careful with him. they're entrusted with the national security secrets we have. this is on-the-job training in the most important, sensitive job in the world. we're watching an inexperienced, undisciplined person deal with this very sensitive material. this is why we have talking points, why presidents have protocols for what they say and don't say when they meet with foreign leaders. it's because things like this can happen if someone is inexperienced. the only thing you can say is, please, please, donald trump le

joining us now, conservative talk show host, charlie sykes. team team team.s response to the "milwaukee journal sentinel" about the plagiarism charge saying only someone with a political agenda would say this is plagiarism in e-mail from the paper. the plagiarism was alleged by the aclu. >> this may be the pretext this administration should not make this appointment that would be reckless and bizarre since flint. you have the deaths in the jail and threats against private citizens and somebody who proposed suspending habeas corpus and jailing as many as one million americans who might be suspected of -- sentiments, there are so many ways sheriff clarke has disqualified himself. this is the last little piece here. if they're looking for a way out of this, this might be it, if they are. >> it's interesting this would even be considered. we can't confirm whether he's getting this job or just bragging. but julia in the "washington post" had this deputy dhhs job clarke says he's getting. she said he's not fit to serve at the agency tasked with domestic security fo

went to president trump and with his flaws they felt he was battering ram against the left and charlie psych sykeson the russia question for example, even those most dedicated to sort of upholding what had been their prior principles and least connected with donald trump, are not ready to jump ship yet. lindsey graham is not calling for a special prosecutor yet. there's distance yet to cover, i think, before you see any sort of mass defections. >> how that plays out we look ahead to 2018, particularly on the republican side with one gop operative saying you might see people redistance themselves from donald trump the way you saw in 2016 if it continues the way it is. >> you have several congressman running less popular than the president. how do they run on something like healthcare when people don't want to necessarily distance themselves from donald trump? >> a lot of unfinished business, healthcare, tax reform. >> i have unfinished business. i have to stop there. that's all we have for today. happy mother's day to all those mothers out there. mine, my wife, a great mother and katty. there you g